The Inspiring Connections Blog

In case you need a reminder, may you be gentle toward yourself. (Equally, may you be gentle toward all of your selves.)

Sometimes we are the orange bird, and sometimes we are the green bird, and one way or another—and in all the different ways—we are both.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in December, 2017, Pema Chödrön shared that during her life, she has had an instinctual inner sense of what is forward. That really stayed with me, the idea, question, and inner sense for each of us of what is forward.

The information on sleep that sleep researcher and self-ascribed sleep diplomat, Matthew Walker, shared in this interview with Joe Rogan is of such profound importance, it is well worth taking the time to watch. Read more ›

I wrote a poem this week after a monthly meeting with a group a cherished colleagues. I described the poem as a kind of collage of things. Later today (with the help of some feedback), I thought that perhaps it could be a nice poem for this longest night—this year’s winter solstice—as well as being a fine poem for any other moment. I’m sharing it here in two photographs.  Read more ›

BounceBack is a free guided self-help program grounded in cognitive-behavioural therapy that is currently available for individuals living in Ontario who are ages 15 and older, have a valid health card number, and who are experiencing mild to moderate levels of depression, with or without anxiety. The program offers two forms of help: (1) online videos a participant can watch at any time, (2) telephone coaching and workbooks. Clients can self-refer or be referred by their primary care provider.

To learn more about the program, please visit the BounceBack website at bouncebackontario.ca.  Read more ›

In any given moment, we can ask ourselves questions about our attention: “What is my attention focused on right now? Where is my attention going? Is my attention focused broadly or narrowly? Is it moving around or is it stuck on one thing?” In any given moment, we can also bring curiosity to what emotional tone is going with our attention. Read more ›

Travel hopefully. I am told a local psychiatrist who has passed away used to share this phrase often. The first time I heard the phrase, I never wanted to forget it. Isn’t it beautiful?

Read more ›

In the sweet little book written by Thich Nhat Hanh, A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles (2012), Thich teaches a meditation in which we imagine ourselves being something such as a flower, and we imagine feeling a quality of that that thing within ourselves. (For example, in the case of the flower, he invites us to image feeling freshness.) Read more ›

For today, first, a quote: “Healing is an on-going, organic process, not a single ‘big bang’ moment“ (Pat Ogden & Janina Fisher, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Treatment, 2015, p. 73).

Aware that sometimes there can be overt, covert, external, internal, intentional, and/or completely unintentional and inadvertent messages that may lead one to wonder if there is something wrong with them Read more ›